The Dodgers didn’t need a player in a banana suit, or even a relief pitcher, to provide their highest high of the 2015 season. All they needed was Clayton Kershaw.

The reigning National League Most Valuable Player was reminded of his status in the ninth inning Wednesday, when the announced crowd of 41,468 at Dodger Stadium broke into chants of “M-V-P.”

Kershaw was reminded of his status again, perhaps, when Dodgers manager Don Mattingly left him on the mound to face Marlon Byrd with two runners on base and two outs in the ninth inning against the San Francisco Giants. Kershaw needed five pitches to strike out Byrd and complete the 2-1 victory.

His 132 pitches in the game tied a career high. So did his 15 strikeouts.

“He had 15 tonight?” Mattingly asked a room full of reporters. “Wow.”

The vintage performance by Kershaw (12-6), and Chase Utley’s solo home run in the sixth inning off Mike Leake (9-7), ensured the cathartic series sweep.

Holding the three games under a magnifying glass, the Dodgers had to be pleased. The Giants had swept two different head-to-head series earlier in the year in San Francisco; suddenly the Dodgers lead their bitter rivals by a season-high 6 1/2 games.

They still must go back to San Francisco for four games in the final week of the season, a fact Kershaw was quick to point out above the thumping bass and fake fog in the Dodgers’ clubhouse.

However, a quick glance at the Dodgers’ schedule shows only 10 games out of 30 against teams with a winning record. At this point, the only thing that can get in the way of the Dodgers’ third straight National League West title is themselves.

“We’re a good team,” Kershaw said. “I think we’re starting to play like that day in, day out, which is huge.”

After being no-hit for the second time in as many weeks Sunday, the Dodgers got just enough offense to win all three games against the Giants by a single run.

Monday’s 14-inning, rally banana-fueled win set a tone for the series. Pitcher Zack Greinke nearly finished Tuesday’s win himself before running out of gas in the eighth inning.

Kershaw’s fastball was still touching 95 mph on the radar gun in the ninth inning Wednesday, giving Mattingly a fairly easy choice to rest his bullpen on a night when closer Kenley Jansen was unavailable.

By striking out 251 batters this season, Kershaw has set a new career high and tied Don Drysdale for the fifth most in a season by a Los Angeles Dodgers pitcher.

Utley, the Long Beach native, apparently needed only 11 games to put a finger on his new team’s pulse.

“The name of the game is pitching,” Utley said. “With Kershaw and Greinke 1-2, that’s a good start for sure. We have to continue to improve. There’s improvements to be made. We have a month to do that.”

Justin Turner led off the second inning with a single and had a clear path to home plate after Carl Crawford stroked a line drive to the wall in left-center field. Dodgers third base coach Ron Roenicke had an easy decision to send Turner home when Giants center fielder Angel Pagan bobbled the baseball on the warning track. Crawford reached third base on the error.

Kershaw had been cruising when the Giants tied the score in the bottom of the sixth inning. Kelby Tomlinson led off the inning with a walk and was called out by first base umpire Mark Wegner on a pickoff attempt by Kershaw.

But Giants manager Bruce Bochy challenged the ruling, the call was overturned, and Tomlinson remained on first base. He then stole second and scored on an RBI single by Pagan, tying the score 1-1.

Bochy was later ejected for the second consecutive game by umpire Mike Winters. Kershaw picked two runners off first base that could not be overturned by video review.

The most important decision made by either manager Wednesday might have taken place weeks earlier.

The Dodgers were facing two off-days in a single week in August when Mattingly pulled Mat Latos from his starting rotation. That lined up Brett Anderson, Greinke and Kershaw to start the three games against the Giants.

“All year long we really haven’t been able to get everybody lined up when we played them,” Mattingly said. “Last year we were able to do it a lot. It seemed like every time we faced them, we had Greinke and Kershaw in that mix. This is the first time we’ve really been able to get them — this was our best three guys in this series. When we had those off-days, we would’ve moved guys around to get these guys involved in this series for sure.”